Pounding on the door awoke Milo the next morning. "Get up! Get up!" Maggie shouted. "It's Christmas, people!"
Milo groaned and rolled out of bed. He knew Maggie wouldn't stop until everyone got up.
Judah rubbed his eyes, twisting around to hang his legs off the edge of the top bunk. "What time is it?"
Milo grabbed his phone to check. "It's 7:14."
Judah yawned and nimbly hopped down. "And we're awake because?"
"My mom won't let anyone open any presents unless we're all there." Milo leaned against Judah. He pressed his cheek to Judah's bare chest and closed his eyes. "Your skin is so warm."
Judah tapped his shoulder. "Baby, you fell asleep on me, and I'm too tired to carry you around."
"I'm sorry." Milo said around a yawn.
"What is the holdup, family?" Maggie yelled from down the hall.
"Magdalena Grace McBride!" Mrs. McBride screeched. "If you don't stop yelling like a crazy person, I'm going to make you wait until everyone else has opened all their gifts before you can start."
There was a knock on the door to the bathroom. Milo reluctantly pulled himself away from Judah and went to check it. It could only be Mercer since the bathroom didn't have a door to the hall.
Milo opened the door to see Mercer holding out a hanger with a neon green and hot pink sweater that matched the one Mercer wore. "Me and Maggie found these the other day and decided to do matching sweaters this year."
"Oh, my God!" Milo's hand flew to his forehead and slid across the top of his head. "I totally forgot to buy a sweater."
Mercer held the monstrosity out to him. "At least you didn't waste your money. Consider this my gift to you."
Milo took the sweater. "Thanks."
Mercer pulled the door shut.
Milo removed the price tags and put the sweater on over his t-shirt. When he turned around, Judah gawked. "What the hell is that?"
Milo laughed at the horror in Judah's face. Milo said, "A few years ago, me, Mercer, and Maggie saw these horrendous sweaters at the mall, and we thought it would be funny to wear them to surprise our mom. She loved it so much that we've done it every year since."
"Just when I think you can't get more adorable." Judah came over to put his arms around Milo.
"I'm sure I look super sexy."
"Are you kidding me? Doing something silly and thoughtful for someone you love, just to make them happy, is one of the sexiest things I can think of." Judah kissed Milo, pulling him closer.
Milo pushed him away and sighed. "You cannot get me turned on while I'm wearing pajama pants. They don't hide anything."
Judah shook with laughter, grinning so wide practically all his teeth showed.
"And put on some clothes, for God's sake." Milo blurted. He pulled the hem of his sweater down as far as it would go. "It's a holy day, dammit!"
Judah put his hands on his hips, smirking. "Baby, I'm Jewish. This is just another day for me."
"So, are you just gonna walk around in your underwear?"
Judah went over to his suitcase and put on a pair of dark gray sweatpants with Northwestern printed down the leg in purple. He paired it with a very well-fitted white t-shirt.
He turned to Milo and held his arms out wide. "Better?"
Milo eyed him suspiciously. "Mercer told you about my thing for white t-shirts, didn't he?"
Judah tilted his head. "What?" Judah looked down at his shirt. "You have a thing for white t-shirts? Like guys wearing them or just the shirts themselves."
"Never mind." Milo spun around and headed for the door.
Judah ran past him and blocked his path. "Tell me. If it's something you like, I want to know about it. Then I can do it more often."
"It's nothing. I was hanging out with Ellie and a couple people, and Mercer was there, too, but I can't remember why. Anyway, we were talking about the kinds of things we liked, specifically in terms of guys."
"And lemme guess you said white t-shirts?"
"It's not really about the shirt." Milo clarified. "When I was fourteen, I went to the classic movie night at the drive-in with Ellie to see Rebel Without a Cause. I felt a lot of things for James Dean."
"I get it. I've seen that movie. He was very hot. And he had great lips."
"I think I just became like ten times more attracted to you."
Judah smiled. "Do you want me to change?"
Milo looked him over and reluctantly nodded. "If you don't mind?"
"I'd do anything for you." Judah said as he went over to switch out the shirt for a black one, also bearing his school's name. He looked like he was going to a pep rally.
As Judah returned to take Milo's hand, he said, "You know I think I have a red jacket kinda like the one he wears in that movie."
"Ha, ha. You're very funny."
Judah flashed a devilish grin. "Who's joking?"
"My head actually might actually explode if you showed up somewhere in that outfit."
Judah narrowed his eyes, seductively. "Which one?"
"Stop it!" Milo couldn't stop smiling. The muscles in his face seemed frozen that way. It made his cheeks tingle.
Judah seemed pleased by his reaction. He sighed and kissed Milo's cheek. "You're so easy to fluster."
"Let's go." Milo dragged Judah out of the room before he could make any more inappropriate jokes. "Maggie's probably having a meltdown waiting for us."
As Milo predicted, Maggie was dancing around the living room, bouncing on the balls of her feet like she had to go to the bathroom. She was even mumbling, "Come on, come on, come on."
When Maggie saw Milo and Judah, she ran to sit on the floor, right next to the pile of presents under the Christmas tree. She looked at their mother. "Can we start now? They're here."
"You know I like to get a picture of my babies in their adorable sweaters first." Mrs. McBride said. "I love that you're all matching."
Mrs. McBride ushered them to the tree and snapped about twenty pictures. Then she waved Judah over.
"Do you want me to take one of you guys?" Judah asked. He held his hand out for her phone.
"No, sweetheart. Get in there with them."
Judah took a step back, raising his hands. "That's okay."
"Are you really going to deny such a simple request from the mother of your boyfriend?" she asked, very obviously feigning her dismay. She had never been great at acting. That was probably the reason she rarely hid her thoughts about anything.
"Okay." Judah said, with a hint of smile. "For you."
"Wait!" Maggie said. She grabbed a box from under the tree.
Mrs. McBride groaned. "I promise we're almost done. Just a few with Judah and you can open your presents."
"No, Mom," Mercer chimed in. "It's for Judah."
"What?" Judah looked at Milo.
Milo shrugged, just as clueless.
"It'll be worth it." Mercer said. "Just this one."
Mrs. McBride nodded. "Okay. Go ahead."
Judah's face reddened as he took the gift and sat on the sofa to tear off the paper. Inside the box was an ugly sweater, identical to theirs.
Milo looked at his siblings, both shocked and overjoyed.
Judah also seemed very pleasantly surprised. He quickly pulled it on. "Thank you. Milo told me what this means to you guys."
Mrs. McBride clapped twice to get their attention. She waved frantically towards the tree. "Come on, everybody. Squeeze in."
Judah put his arm around Milo and leaned his head against Milo's. In the final shot, he pressed his lips to Milo's cheek.
"That's so nice." Mrs. McBride said. She examined her phone, flipping through the images. "You're all so cute. And so big."
Mrs. McBride fanned her eyes that were glassy with unshed tears.
Milo and his siblings collectively rolled their eyes.
"She does this every year." Milo whispered in Judah's ear.
Maggie returned to her spot by the presents and took on the job of sorter, handing each gift to its recipient.
Maggie pulled out a thin, rectangular box and read the card aloud, "This one is to Milo, from Judah."
Milo grabbed it and ripped off the ribbon and paper, eager to find out what Judah got him. He'd been speculating about this gift for days, more than any of the ones his family got him. He opened the box to find a ticket. Picking it up, he discovered there were actually two tickets.
He was surprised by the name of the event: The 23rd Annual Children's Hospital New Year's Eve Charity Ball.
"You bought me tickets to the ball?" Milo asked in a hushed tone while his family continued opening gifts.
Judah scrunched his face. "Do you hate it? I know it's kinda hokey, but I thought it could be fun. Apparently it's at this ritzy old hotel, and it's like a black tie thing."
"It's great. And very sweet. Thank you. But aren't these kind of expensive?" Milo knew exactly how much they cost. He'd seen the posters for that thing all over town. Each ticket cost $75.
"It's for charity." Judah said. "And I definitely wouldn't mind seeing you in tux."
"I'm sure you look amazing in one too."
Judah scrutinized Milo carefully. "You really don't seem into this."
"No, I am." Milo grabbed Judah's hand to reassure him, stroking his thumb across Judah's knuckles. "I promise, I love the idea."
"Tell that to your face."
Milo sighed, not sure how to explain this to him. He figured the best way was to just say it. "It's just that I could've gotten us in for free."
Judah blinked a few times, clearly confused. "How?"
Mercer, who apparently had been eavesdropping, answered for Milo: "Our dad is a surgeon at the hospital they host that thing for. He offers to take us every year." He didn't bother to lower his voice, so everyone heard him.
Maggie and Mrs. McBride both looked over.
"Well, I feel kind of stupid now." Judah said, sinking back into the sofa cushions, staring down at his hands. "I guess I should've mentioned this to someone before I bought them. It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing."
"Oh, Judah, no." Mrs. McBride said. "Don't feel that way. It's a very generous gift."
"It is!" Milo added. He turned Judah's face so that Judah would look at him. "And I can't wait to go."
"It was still a huge waste of money." Mercer mumbled.
Maggie threw a ball of wrapping paper that thudded against Mercer's forehead. "Why are you being an asshole?"
"Mom, did you hear what she just said?" Mercer pointed at Maggie, acting innocent.
"Yes, I did. And it's an excellent question. Why are you being an asshole?"
"Jeez! I'm sorry. It was a joke."
Their mother straightened her back and huffed. "Well, nobody thought it was funny."
Judah crossed his arms, sliding down further. He pressed his chin to his chest. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere else.
Milo pried Judah's arms loose and took his hand, lacing their fingers together. "Come with me. I want to give you your gift."
Judah perked up a bit.
No one said anything to them as they retreated and fled up the stairs.
When they got to Milo's room, he released Judah's hand and went to fetch the gift bag from under his bed. "I suck at wrapping, so I didn't even try. Sorry."
"I really hope you didn't waste as much money as I did." Judah said.
Milo stopped Judah and took his face between his hands. "I love my gift. And I will gladly go to the ball with you. In fact, I'd be honored to be your date." He pressed his lips to Judah's for a long moment. It was a simple kiss with no bells and whistles or fiery passion, but Milo felt it in his bones, and he hoped Judah did, too.
At the very least, it made Judah smile. He sat on the bed and pulled the tissue paper from the bag. Judah glanced at Milo. "You got me a picture frame?"
Milo took the frame out of the bag and held it up to face Judah. He tapped on the glass to point out what was inside.
Judah grabbed the frame, his face glowing. "Did you draw this?" He kept looking back and forth from Milo to the sketch of the frozen lake surrounded by mounds of snow and barren trees with a solitary man skating across the surface. He'd used a photo he took of Judah at the ice rink as a model to get the pose right.
"Yeah." Milo nodded.
As Milo stared at the picture, he noticed so many flaws in it. There were stray lines that made no sense. Marks where he hadn't quite gotten his mistakes erased properly. The figure was a bit wobbly, much like Milo trying to ice skate, so perhaps that was appropriate. "It's kind of rough because I only thought of it yesterday. I wish I would've had more time."
"Baby, I love it." Judah laid it on the bed and pulled Milo into a tight embrace. "It's exactly what I wanted, and I didn't even know it."
As Judah squeezed tighter, Milo felt that same tranquility he got from drawing. He almost didn't want to let go when Judah pulled away.
"And my stepmom gave me the frame, so it was completely free." Milo said.
Judah laughed. "I didn't think you'd actually follow my rules. I was very prepared to be an understanding and thoughtfully forgiving boyfriend."
"How about being the guy who makes out with his very thoughtful boyfriend, who did follow those ridiculous rules?"
"That sounds like a very good consolation prize." Judah quickly moved the frame over to the desk and returned to kiss Milo.
Milo took a break to ask, "Can we please take off these stupid sweaters? I'm already starting to sweat."
Judah agreed, pulling his own off easily. He laid it across the back of the desk chair.
Milo, on the other hand, barely got his head out of it, also managing to get his arm stuck in his sleeve, which Judah quickly remedied. Milo had less regard for his sweater. He tossed it on the floor as they reclined onto the bed.
"Oh!" Judah pulled back. "This just reminded me of something."
"Do tell."
"There's a second part to your gift."
"Really?" Milo was intrigued.
"When I found out the ball was in a hotel, I made a reservation for that night. I thought it might be a good time for us to... you know, be together. I thought it would make it special."
"I love that." Milo stretched up to kiss Judah, bringing his focus back to where it belonged.
However, Milo suddenly thought of something and had to take a pause. "How are you going to take me to the ball? It's on New Year's Eve."
"I know when it is. My stupid ass bought the damn tickets."
Milo shook his head. Judah didn't seem to understand. "The night we first got together, at Hunter's party, Mercer told me you only had eleven days left in town. That was eight days ago. You're leaving in three days. That's the 28th."
"I can count, babe." Judah replied. "But, apparently, your brother can't. Our return flight is on the third. Classes don't even start back until the fifth, so I don't know what the hell he was thinking."
The elation Milo felt at hearing that he had six extra days with Judah was almost as euphoric as the time he ate six pot brownies with Ellie on Spring Break their senior year.